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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bat · kid · game · wave · degree · cold · bass · calf

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bass — low music
  3. game — a match
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. kid — child
  8. degree — temperature
  9. kid — to tease
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. bass — the fish
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. degree — from a university
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. degree — an amount
  24. bat — the animal

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com